As far as old school fighting games from the 90’s and early 00’s are concerned there are so many titles that instantly comes to mind. Retro gamers often remember titles such as the Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Tekken, Killer Instinct and King of Fighters series from back in the day. Despite, how popular each of those franchises were there were games such as the Bloody Roar series which began back in back in 1997 on the Sony PlayStation which are considered to be highly underrated especially since they were overshadowed during the 90’s-early 00’s. In fact, the Bloody Roar series definitely had strong fan base especially since it was quite unique in relation to gameplay such as the “Beast Mode” mechanic and eventually “Beast Drive” in Blood Roar 2 which was released back in ’99. As far as the overall appeal of the series is concerned many would argue that Bloody Roar 2 was arguably the last strong entry despite there being three more games that came afterwards between 2000-2003. The latest entry in the set known as Bloody Roar 4 came out about sixteen years ago and since then there has been no indication of the possibility of a new game especially since Hudson Soft became defunct back in 2012.

While video game developer Eighting has worked on just about every Bloody Roar title within the series Konami was the publisher for Bloody Roar 4 which appeared on the PlayStation 2 between late 2003-early 2004. Even though, Konami is still a major publisher within the gaming industry today its unlikely that they have any plans on bringing back the Bloody Roar series. Bloody Roar 4 was nowhere near as popular as the first two games that came out between ’97-’99. In fact, some would argue with the notion that a new Bloody Roar game is not necessary but the idea of having HD releases if each title within the series would be something that would definitely turn heads within the gaming world. Despite, the fact that the fighting genre of gaming is not quite as popular today as it was during the 90’s a new project or release involving the Bloody Roar series could definitely be somewhat of an attraction anytime from 2020 onwards. But as it currently stands the idea of a new Bloody Roar game is one that seems unlikely to happen anytime in the near future.

As far as platform games from the early 90’s are concerned one the few titles that retro gamers instantly think about in relation that time period is Earthworm Jim which was developed by Shiny Entertainment initially released back in 1994. Earthworm Jim was released for 16-bit consoles such as the Sega Genesis and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in ’94 before it appeared on game systems such as Game Boy, Game Gear, Microsoft Windows and Sega-CD in 1995. Earthworm Jim had a rather basic but intriguing plot that was somewhat strange. The game starts of with a super-suit that falls from the sky which Jim gains access to. After acquiring the suit Jim has to deal with various adversaries who attempt to take it from him. Also, Jim is charged the the task of rescuing a Princess while trying to thwart off various foes throughout the game making for an exciting platform/run & gun adventure. While the original Earthworm Jim game was not quite as popular as other 16-bit platformers such as Super Mario World and the Sonic the Hedgehog trilogy from the early 90’s it managed to spawn a sequel that was arguably more successful following its release in 1995. Some would probably argue that the damsel in distress aspect of the story was not needed especially considering the fact that the super suit discovered by Earthworm Jim was interesting enough.

Also, despite how bizarre yet fascinating the plot was the ending was considered to be somewhat dark since Jim accidentally crushes Princess What’s Her Name after rescuing her. As a 2D platformer Earthworm Jim is seen as a cult classic while being praised by fans and critics for various quality such as gameplay, graphics along being an adventurous title that gamers of any age could easily sink their teeth into. Finding hard copy retro titles such as Earthworm Jim is rare when visiting used game stores which only proves how valuable it was approximately 25 years ago. If anything Earthworm Jim was arguably one of the best non-Sonic or Mario platformers of the 16-bit era and is one that which will remain a classic in the eyes of many people.

When we think about classic platform titles of the early 90’s that appeared during the 16-bit era of gaming one of the few names that instantly comes to mind is Donkey Kong Country. For those who do not know Donkey Kong Country was developed by Rare and published by Nintendo when it was initially released in November 1994. Donkey Kong Country was the first major game within the series to appear on a home based console during the 90’s. While Donkey Kong had first became very popular on the NES similar to characters such Mario & Link during the 80’s it seemed like the Country series stood out more. Donkey Kong Country had realistic characters sprites and a basic plot which involved a bunch of bananas being stolen by Kremlings. Players have to compete various stages while encountering numerous adversaries while controlling Donkey or Diddy Kong as they progress through 40 different levels within the game. One of the coolest features that Donkey Kong Country had was the multiplayer co-op mode which was similar to Sonic the Hedgehog 2 & 3 where one player got to be Sonic and other was Tails. The co-op two player mode in some ways made Donkey Kong Country better than older Mario games from the 80’s and Super Mario World to a degree as far as gameplay is concerned.

As far as overall success is concerned Donkey Kong Country managed to sell over 9.3 million units worldwide and ended up becoming the third best selling game for the Super NES during the 90’s. In fact, Donkey Kong Country ended up becoming the third best selling game for Nintendo’s 16-bit console while being surpassed by Super Mario World & Super Mario All-Stars. Donkey Kong Country was a title that spawned two SNES sequels which were both released between ’95-’96 and were largely successful as well. Despite, its release approximately 24 years ago Donkey Kong Country is a game worth playing for those who never had a chance to do so. As a 2D platformer Donkey Kong Country looked like it was ahead of its time following its release in 1994.

As far as memorable games from the 90’s are concerned in relation to violence and mayhem one of the few titles that the world got to see during that decade was Twisted Metal. For those who do not know Twisted Metal was published by Sony Interactive Entertainment and initially released back in November 1995 for the PS1. In countries such as America Twisted Metal was very popular among teens and young adults for its addictive gameplay involving vehicular combat where players have to struggle to stay alive in the streets of Los Angles. The plot for the game takes place in 2005 and centers around competition held by Calypso where participants go through various levels and try to destroy each other in order to stay alive. The concept of the Twisted Metal competition was very creative but some people have criticized the game on the past for having a weak single-player mode. Despite, some of the game’s drawbacks there were more positives than negatives in the first Twisted Metal game such as the arsenal of weapons players were provided. In the games players had the ability to carry over 20 different weapons giving players numerous options on how to destroy their enemies.

Also, the co-op story mode was interesting as well since players had to share six lives which really forced people to strategize as the difficulty of the game increased during progression. The idea of sharing lives during co-op gameplay can be seen as a negative in the eyes of some people since it was somewhat similar to the NES Battetoads game where two players had to share lives in a game that can be difficult. Various stages in game where the competition took place included skyscrapers, freeways, warehouses and even the suburbs which made Twisted Metal even more interesting. The graphics for Twisted Metal were pretty decent by mid 90’s standards especially since 3D gaming was still considered to be new during that time period. The original Twisted Metal game ended up spawning two successful sequels between ’96-’98 which both sold over one million copies worldwide on the PS1. As a vehicular combat game Twisted Metal was one of the most innovative titles the gaming world has seen and its a title that is still somewhat popular to this day. The latest entry that we got to see in the Twisted Metal series was back in 2012 and for the most part fans and critics were fond of that game. Hopefully, sometime in the future we will get a chance to see another Twisted Metal title for a current generation console such as the PlayStation 4 or even the upcoming PS5 game system.

As far as beat em up classics from the 90’s are concerned one of the most popular titles that we got to see back in the day was the Streets Of Rage from 1991. The original Streets Of Rage game was developed and published by Sega and was one that competed with Nintendo’s Final Fight series back in the early 90’s. As far as quality and overall lasting appeal is concerned many people would argue that it was not quite as popular as its ’92 successor Streets Of Rage II. Unlike, sequel the original Streets Of Rage game had 8-bit like graphics that looked that looked inferior but nonetheless had a basic but interesting storyline. Players have the option of choosing three ex-police officers Adam, Blaze Fielding and Axel Stone in order to combat chaos in a unnamed city taken over by criminal syndicate lead by Mr. X. One of the most memorable aspects that Sega presented in Streets Of Rage was its soundtrack which was produced by the legendary Yuzo Koshiro. There were songs such as Fighting In The Street, Moon Beach, Violent Breathing that were included in certain stages and added life to the game itself and are still somewhat popular to this day.

Also, the fact that Street Of Rage had included multiple endings was something that added to the game’s overall replay value. The original Streets Of Rage game gave players the option of defeating Mr. X towards the end versus having both players fight against each other within its co-op mode. If the player who joins Mr. X defeats the one who does not they get the bad ending. The player who refused to join the crime syndicate had to defeat the disloyal protagonist along with Mr. X in the end thus making the good ending even more difficult to achieve. In fact, as players progress towards the end of the game each became increasingly more difficult which made Streets Of Rage a more exciting beat em up title altogether. As far as Mega Drive classics are concerned Streets Of Rage is a title that within the top ten of many people’s list in relation to 16-bit games from the early 90’s.

As far as underrated fighting games are concerned one of the few titles that some people might remember is the original Bloody Roar game. The first Bloody Roar game was released back in arcade centers in ’97 before it was ported to the PS1 later that same year. Despite, the positive reception that Bloody Roar received from fans and critics alike it was a game that was definitely overshadowed by 3D fighting titles such as Tekken 3 & Mortal Kombat 4 for the PS1 console. In fact, some believe that Bloody Roar could have definitely stood out more the Sega Saturn due to the fact that the console had packed high profile fighting titles in general. But then again the Sega Saturn did not sell nearly as much as the PS1 did as far as overall sales within its life span between ’94-’00. The Sega Saturn managed to reach over 9.2 million units in sales since its release while the PS1 reached over 106 million between ’94-”06.

While there may have been less competition in relation to third party games on the Sega Saturn during the mid 90’s its quite possible that Bloody Roar could of ended up becoming a forgotten title altogether if it appeared exclusively for that console. Also, considering the fact that Sony Interactive Entertainment was the publisher for the American port of Bloody Roar the game was pretty much guaranteed to be a PS1 exclusive following its release in 1997.

As far as classic Sonic games are concerned many people instantly remember the trilogy that appeared on the Sega Genesis between ’91-’94 since they are considered to be the among best in the entire series. A lot of people probably never owned a Game Gear console around the mid 90’s especially considering the fact that the handheld console did not sell as much as Sega had hoped it would. One of the few big titles that appeared on Game Gear was Sonic The Hedgehog: Triple Trouble which was developed by game developer known as Aspect which recently became defunct back in October 2018. Sonic The Hedgehog: Triple Trouble had impressive visuals and an interesting plot which involved collecting all seven of the Chaos Emeralds. Players had the option of choosing either Sonic or Tails as they try to collect the Emeralds before Dr. Robotnik, Knuckles The Echidna and Nack The Weasel who rarely appeared in Sonic games in general and was more popular in comics.

As a side-scrolling platformer many people would argue that Sonic Triple Trouble could have definitely be a bigger attraction on the Sega Genesis. However, it would have been unlikely that Sonic Triple Trouble would have been popular as Sonic The Hedgehog 3 which was also released early in ’94. Also, the world got to see the release of the Sega Saturn in ’94 which is something that definitely overshadowed the release of titles such Sonic Triple Trouble for Game Gear with the Sega Genesis still being somewhat popular between the ’94-’95 time period. Sonic Triple Trouble is quite possibly one of the most underrated installments of the series from the 90’s and could have possibly been more popular than it was on a home console such as the Sega Saturn back in the day.